


Beware the Lighthouse

by MAPMonstersArePerceptions



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied Unhealthy Relationship, Myrtle's Whole World is Tom, Rose and Lysander just need help with their Homework
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28103298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MAPMonstersArePerceptions/pseuds/MAPMonstersArePerceptions
Summary: Lysander and Rose need to interview a ghost.  Instead of going with one of the House Ghosts, they choose... Myrtle.  What tales does she have to tell?Major Character Death is Myrtle.
Relationships: Moaning Myrtle/Tom Riddle
Comments: 20
Kudos: 18
Collections: Judged by the Cover





	Beware the Lighthouse

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [ravenslight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenslight/pseuds/ravenslight) in the [judgedbythecover](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/judgedbythecover) collection. 



_Splash! Splash!_

“You owe me one, Ly!” Rose yelled out to her friend, Lysander Scamander, as she entered the bathroom of Moaning Myrtle. They had to write a report about one of Hogwarts’ ghosts, and rather than interview one of the House ghosts who were always willing to help, Lysander came up with the _great_ idea of interviewing one of the least sought after ghosts in the castle. The only reason Rose was going along with this foolish plan was because it would help them to stand out against the other students. Rose just had to get Myrtle to agree.

* * *

“Me? You want to interview me? Well, I guess it’s okay for you and your boyfriend to come in,” Myrtle told Rose, flattered. 

“He’s not my… nevermind,” Rose muttered, then louder, “Okay, Ly, you can come in now!”

“I think I knew your mothers. Did your mum wear food-themed earrings?” Myrtle asked Lysander.   
  
“Oh, and your mum turned into a great big cat right in that very stall!” She squealed in remembered glee to Rose. 

  
“Right… hey listen, for our project, we need to know a bit about you from before you were a ghost. We’ve been learning that the foundational memories and events help make up who you become as a ghost. What’s your most important memory, Myrtle?” Lysander began.

  
“Oooh, lighthouses! I will never forget going to see the lighthouse with my mum and dad. It was our last vacation before the war started, you know. 

“As we looked at the great white and red lighthouse by the seashore, Papa told me: ‘Lighthouses guide weary sailors to safe harbors, Myrtle. As you grow up, sometimes things won’t make sense. Find yourself a safe and steady lighthouse to lead you home.’

“Papa was supposed to be my lighthouse, but he was called to help in the war against the Germans just a few months later. You probably don’t know anything about that war, do you? Most don’t. Everything is Grindlewald this and Grindlewald that,” Myrtle complained.  
  
“If you mean World War II, Mum taught me about it last summer,” Rose offered.

“Yes, that! After Papa left, Mum became my lighthouse and I hers. Life got really boring. Instead of vacations, we had air raids. Mum and I would make a game of it, who could get to the shelter fastest. _I_ always won.” Myrtle exclaimed smugly.

“Months passed. Eventually, the raids became as routine as everything else. Rationing curtailed my mischievous side like nothing else could, and Mum and I lived for Papa’s letters.

“I don’t remember a lot about that summer, but I’ll share what I can.

“First came the letter from Papa,” Myrtle’s tone changed as she remembered that distant summer, “He would be coming home! The letter was old, but that just meant he’d be home sooner. Any day, Papa would walk through the door…

“Mum and I did what we could to decorate. Mum smiled more while we spruced up the house than I had seen in months. We reused old Happy Birthday signs to make a banner welcoming Papa back. 

“There was a knock at the door. We ran to answer it, but Papa wasn’t on the other side. It was another soldier. Mum collapsed. Light flickered off the tears streaming down her face. She mouthed the word ‘No’ over and over again, but I couldn’t hear it over the roaring in my ear. A huge tornado swept through the house and pulled down all the decorations.

“Things get really blurry after that. Calls of witchcraft. Of being the reason Papa died. Being alone. Alone and more hungry than the rationing called for,” the ghost seemed to shiver and refocused on her audience.

“When they took me away, I was told that Mum was suffering from hysteria and that they were taking me to a place with lots of other children to play with. I remember asking if they were cursed like me. Back then, I thought the strange things that happened around me were a curse, you understand. No one answered my question or really said anything after that, until we reached the Wools’ Orphanage.

“Remember I said that lighthouses were the most important thing for me? At the orphanage, I found a new lighthouse in an older boy named Tom. His eyes were like black holes that pulled me in even while they seemed to look into my very soul. Tom was nice, if distant. Charming in a way I’d never experienced, I couldn’t understand why the others didn’t seek him out. I did whatever I could just to get a twitch of his lips.”

Lysander and Rose looked at each other. They’d learned enough in history class to have a suspicion about who Tom was.

Myrtle continued happily, “When my birthday came, I got my Hogwarts letter. At first, I was so mad. That letter proved every mean thing Mum had said about me true. I would’ve burnt it, if it weren’t for Tom. He led me to a little corner of the ill-tended garden and spoke of wonders that I’d never imagined possible. Moving staircases? Floating things with little more than a thought? It seemed impossible, but he gave me a little demonstration after telling me that wand magic could get you kicked out of Hogwarts. Tom didn’t need a wand for what he did though.

The peach-colored rose that he caused to transform out of the weeds was perfect in every way. When he tucked it into my hair, I knew that I needed to go to Hogwarts. Not to grow flowers though, no I couldn’t bear to be separated from my lighthouse.” Myrtle sighed dreamily, seemingly lost in the memory of that perfect rose. 

The children shuffled awkwardly, causing little waves in the slightly flooded bathroom. Finally, Myrtle acknowledged them again.

Rose brought up the next question. “And your years at Hogwarts? Before you died, I mean, how were they?”

Myrtle’s grin took on a malicious air. She delighted in the discomfort of others and was sure that she could make the two students in front of her squirm.   
  
“Hogwarts? Hogwarts was everything I expected it to be. My dormmates, especially nasty Olive Hornby pulled horrible pranks on me, not unlike how students treated your mother, _Lysander Scamander_ ,” she sang-song the boy’s name. “Students were horrible to her, just like they were to me. The only exception was that your mum had Harry Potter to help her, and I had Tom!” Myrtle cackled as Lysander looked vaguely ill. No one liked their family being compared to one of the undead after all.

Myrtle’s eyes seemed to get a little softer thinking about her lighthouse, however, and her next words held less bite.   
  
“Tom and I would meet in secret. He had a hard enough time as it was, being a Mudblood in Slytherin. Once it got out that he could talk to snakes, things got a little better for him, but he couldn’t risk being seen hanging out with Myrtle Four-Eyes. That’s what they called me, you know, before I became Moaning Myrtle.   
  
“Anyways, Tom and I would meet in different hidden rooms around the castle. He’d help me with my homework, and I’d help him search for new passageways. He wanted to know every inch of the castle before he graduated, and I was just the girl to help him do it. As a Slytherin, he especially loved anything with snakes. Once, I found a dusty portrait of Salazar surrounded by snakes. I think Tom would have kissed me for that if it weren’t for the caretaker interrupting us,” Myrtle swooned at the thought while Rose and Lysander turned green. If they had any doubts before about who Tom was, this removed it. 

“Right, let’s continue. Lots of ghosts seem to enjoy talking about the day they died. Would you like to tell the world about your death? Everyone knows that you were killed by Slytherin’s monster, a basilisk, but perhaps you could take us further into your head on that tragic day?”

Myrtle did a little dance in the air. “I’d be delighted to!” She exclaimed. 

“The first thing you need to know is that Olive Hornby is the person at fault. The world thinks that Tom’s the one who killed me, and he maybe played an itty-bitty role, but it was an accident. No, Olive deserves all the blame. 

“Tom had been very busy that year. He’d just started his NEWT-level courses and as he came closer and closer to graduation, more of his efforts were spent trying to find the Chamber of Secrets. It was the only thing that we KNEW existed from the history books but couldn’t find ourselves. Then rumors started going around that one of Slytherin’s heirs had found it and unleashed a beast on the school… well Tom couldn’t just ignore that! He knew he was the true heir, and it was his job to stop the imposter. 

“Well, with Tom so busy, we couldn’t meet up as often as we used to, and Olive started teasing me about my weight and glasses and how no boy would ever like me. I tried to tell her about Tom, but she just laughed. It hurt. It’s because of _her_ that I hid in this very bathroom where I met my doom. It’s because of her that I looked into that serpentine gaze when my ears overheard Tom’s voice. She’s the one at fault! No one else!” Great pearly tears ran down the tormented soul’s face.   
  
When she’d sufficiently demonstrated the wickedness of Olive Hornby, she continued, “You know, I remember another saying of my papa’s about lighthouses. As my soul left my body, it echoed unceasingly until they found me. Papa told me, ‘Be wary of lighthouses found in the storm, Myrtle, for they hide a rocky shore.’ Olive created the storm while my lighthouse’s voice drew me to the sight of the basilisk’s eyes.”

With that, Myrtle decided that the interview was finished and flew into the nearest toilet, splashing Lysander and Rose with the spray. 

The two left the bathroom in silence. Their project would be unusual, alright, but the dangers of being alone with only one light to guide your way seemed like a tale that needed to be told.   
  
[The Story of our Lighthouses](https://imgur.com/gallery/NOHm8bD)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Listen to my Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487946) by [MAPMonstersArePerceptions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MAPMonstersArePerceptions/pseuds/MAPMonstersArePerceptions)




End file.
